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6.20.2009

Old photographs


July/August 1922 - Grandma Wanda and Great Grandpa Walter in San Dimas Canyon

In cleaning out the garage, a long and arduous process, my father has been coming across things. He recently found a photo album that at first glance we thought was put together by his paternal grandmother, but I got ahold of this little artifact and found out that it was put together by my great aunt - my paternal grandmother's sister Crystal, who died at the young age of 33. The pages are black, like construction paper, and the words are written in white chalk or crayon. The photos are all of people she knew. She was a graduate of UCLA. Her family lived in Pomona, California (there are pictures of both houses they lived in along with addresses!) She went to bible study school one year. There was a horse named Dot that either the family had or neighbors had. She seemed to have quite a few friends. She looks a lot like my dad's sister - that was how I was able to identify her in pictures. She spent a lot of time in the outdoors. My grandma Wanda had two sisters, Nea and Crystal. Both of these girls died at the age of 33 - from causes I cannot remember right now - and when my Grandmother, the youngest, turned 33, her parents of course were worried that they would lose her too.


But they didn't. She lived on, was married, had two children and lived to be in her nineties and died in 1999. She was raised in Southern California and also went to UCLA. This is a picture of her as a young girl:
After I saw this the other day, my first thought was, "I wonder if this girl would have understood my sense of humor." I don't know why that popped up. I guess I got my sense of humor from my father, who says he got his sense of humor from his grandfather, the man in the picture at the top of this post, Wanda's father. I didn't know my grandma well, since I was a child most of her living years. Later on in life, she had dementia, and became childlike again. But what a wonderful memory this must have been for her. A day by the river with her family. What a great find this was! (thanks Dad!)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great find in your father's garage, Genny! It's like lost treasure! Thanks for sharing the experience with us!

MBB Founder and Editor Denene Millner said...

What a beautiful find--isn't the history of family absolutely fascinating? You should make sure to sit down with your dad and get any kind of stories you can... they're often better than fiction! Those pictures are beautiful; be sure to preserve them in any way that you can... I just finished taking pictures of my parents' pictures and storing them digitally...

Thank you for your kind words on MyBrownBaby--be sure to stop by again, and I'll do the same!

Michelle said...

What a treasure, and treat to share with him in time for Father's Day!

I love finding old family photos, and watching my grandmother's face as she shares the stories behind them.

Denene is right, listen to all the stories you can...they are precious gifts!

gardenmama said...

Isn't it so interesting to find old b&w photos from generations past! I just found some lovely postcards I truly enjoyed reading the beautifully written notes on them and looking at the dates of years long gone by... there is so much to treasure and learn from these little pieces of history!